The Girl with the Fire Heart
Chapter 22

Mr. Brown escorts the couple up a grand staircase, the deep brown wood beneath glinting the light of the chandelier above them. The handrails are cool to the touch, the metal coated in black paint. They reach the landing and turn right, Mr. Brown leading the way to the Blue wing of the house, leaving Damon at the floor to ceiling double doors.

Mr. Brown leads Valentina away from Damon, going to another set of double doors that is opposite from Damon. These doors are painted white with a gold plaque on the right of the doors that reads "Guest Wing." Mr. Brown opens the door, stepping out of the way to allow Valentina to pass through. She casts a quick glance back to see Damon waiting for her to enter the wing before disappearing behind the foamy blue doors.

Once through, Valentina stands in a long hallway that has several doors on either side leading to different rooms. Mr. Brown walks Valentina to the end of the hallway passing a small study, a small library, a tea room and a few others that Valentina doesn't get a chance to see properly.

She walks into the bedroom and sees a large four poster bed with white sheets and several white pillows covering the head of the bed. She sees two tables on either side, both covered with generic books and lamps.

Across from the bed is a natural fireplace. Across from the doorway, she sees a small balcony that has french doors closed in front of her. She walks across the room and opens one door, stepping out into the balcony that hangs over the front entrance of the home.

She looks over the estate, seeing acres of land and hundreds of people working and walking and milling about in preparation for Damon and Valentina's attendance at the tanzanite baby’s blessing ceremony.

Valentina turns away from the edge of the balcony and makes her way back into the room. She notices that Mr. Brown stands in the doorway with his back pressing against one side of the door frame looking out in the hallway.

“Is the room to your satisfaction, miss?” he asks without looking at her.

Valentina gives a loud yes, louder than she means to anyway, and then turns to replace her things already located in the room near a doorway she assumes leads to the bathroom. When she turns back to Mr. Brown, she sees he is watching her curiously, giving her a small smile and then bowing once more before leaving her to her devices.

It’s a little while before Mr. Brown sends two of his staff to notify Damon and Valentina that the first night of festivities are soon to be underway. Soon after, Damon's room is filled with young men helping him prepare for the first night. He sends one man after another to replace out what Valentina is wearing so that he can match accordingly. However, all of Valentina's maids send the staff boys back to Damon without a hint.

Valentina on the other hand, has her room filled with dresses hanging on every viable surface and girls running around running bath water and setting up makeup products and hair styling tools. Shoes are being lined by each dress and gloves are being matched with its corresponding dress.

Valentina is overwhelmed to say the least. She isn’t used to this much attention and frivolity but she is slightly enjoying the lavishness of it all. All the dresses that were laid out are beautiful and the fragrances they used in the bath for her are doing wonders to her senses. The only problem is that Valentina cannot seem to decide what dress to wear.

The dresses match practically every color of the rainbow. She has a wide variety of light colored dresses to dark colored dresses, until her eyes settle on the one black dress and the one off white dress that was packed for her. She shifts her eyes away, not wanting to make such a bold statement like black or white and deciding to weigh her options with one of the many other variations of colors at her disposal.

All the maids around her are speaking loudly, making one recommendation after another, defending their choices to one another and hoping that Valentina will hear them over the cacophony of all the other girls. Valentina sighs, too unsure about her dress choice. She knows that time is slowly inching to her impending arrival downstairs but her mind is lost in what appears to be the most difficult choice she has ever made. It’s at this moment that she wishes her two friends were here. They would have known exactly what kind of dress she should wear.

Valentina shakes her head at her thoughts, not wanting to think about them while she’s here. She looks around at all the maids surrounding her before she notices that one of the maids is standing off to the side by the fireplace, her eyes downcast and her hands clasped in front of her. Her eyebrows are scrunched in a contemplative way and she appears to be the only girl not arguing on behalf of a voiceless dress.

Valentina turns, her copper silk robe caressing her skin. She makes her way through the girls to stand in front of the quiet maid.

The maid looks up when she notices there are bare feet in her line of sight to the floor. When the maid sees Valentina standing before her, she shrinks back and curtsies quickly, apologizing in a whispered voice for not paying attention.

Valentina smiles at the girl, shaking her head for the unnecessary apology.

“I was wondering if you could help me pick a dress for tonight,” Valentina asks.

The maid looks stunned. Valentina steps to the side to allow the maid to properly look around the room, and the maid takes a hesitant step forward towards the other, now silent, maids.

“I know it’s the first night of festivities and I want to make Damon proud. I worry that I won’t make the right choice since I have never been to a blessing celebration quite as grand as this one,” Valentina continues speaking with a laugh.

The maid smiles softly at Valentina but says nothing. The girl continues to make her way to the group, stopping only when she stands where Valentina once stood. Valentina rounds the group, coming to stand in front of the half circle of maids, looking only at the silent maid.

“Miss, maybe we should pick out a dress for you,” one of the maids speaks up. Valentina doesn’t spare the maid a glance. Instead, she keeps her eyes on the young girl. She watches as the young maid looks from dress to dress, inspecting them closely but quickly, making a list in her mind of viable options for the first night.

Finally, after a few minutes of quiet, the young maid makes her way over to a dress that matches the silk robe Valentina is wearing. It’s a copper and red gown with thick material on the skirt that goes into a long train. The bodice of the dress is tight and strapless in a sweetheart neckline. The copper fabric of the bodice swoops like mini waves and pulls up into the left side of the dress. The red skirt is velvet and has similar embroidery of the pale blue dress Valentina wore to Damon's birthday ball.

Valentina smiles to herself, remembering the way that night unfolded. She looks up at the young maid, brightening her smile, and nods, approving of the choice. Suddenly, the room erupts with maids bustling around the room, moving dresses and shoes and gloves out of the way. The maids fluff and pull at the full skirt of the dress, checking that the embroidery is intact.

Other maids push Valentina towards the bathroom and settle her into the seat of the vanity, pulling together all kinds of hair styling tools and getting to work, pulling and tugging and combing her hair every which way until they’re done. Once her hair is finished, the next group of maids get to work on her makeup, swiping little brushes of gold and red and glitter across her eyes and cheeks. As one collective group, the maids step back to look over their handiwork when the young maid who selected the dress comes in and looks at Valentina.

The maids, all at once, tilt their heads to the side, trying to decide what of Valentina's look is missing. Then, the young maid reaches out and picks up a tube of lipstick, handing it to one of the maids to swipe on Valentina's lips. Once the task is done, again the maids all step back and nod their approval, whispering to one another about how beautiful she looks.